Australian band counts missiles as they gear up to play Kyiv's major music festival

'Ninth intercepted, tenth, we can't keep up, eleventh, twelfth ... another one." It's the middle of the night in Kyiv and an Australian band having rushed to their hotel's bomb shelter are counting the number of missiles intercepted.It's not the first time that night they've headed underground. They spend the rest trying to sleep in there.The Ukrainian capital is experiencing one of the largest ballistic missile attacks since the start of the war.Members of band breathe. in a bomb shelter under their hotel in Kyiv. (Supplied: Tall Story Films)Later that day Sydney band breathe. are scheduled to play their biggest show ever — that's if Russian missile strikes don't force the cancellation of Atlas, a music festival that draws thousands of people to Kyiv each year.Breathe. is the only international headliner booked to play."We've wanted to play a show in Ukraine for many years," breathe.'s Andrew Grant told 7.30.Andrew Grant, Dylan Wright and Sean Walker are interviewed by local media after arriving by train in Kyiv. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)The electronic and soul outfit, who have had music featured on Netflix shows You and Elite, and documentary series Couple Therapy, are relatively unknown in Australia.After the band's creators, Sean Walker and Andrew Grant started uploading their music online seven years ago, millions on the other side of the world listened."When we started releasing clips on YouTube, an audience in Ukraine, Moldova and Türkiye started appearing," Grant said.Their song Are You All Good has over 13 million streams on YouTube.Breathe. is the only international headliner at the Atlas Festival. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)"Ukraine is our number one audience on YouTube. It accounts for a fifth of our views on YouTube, which is mind-blowing," Walker told 7.30. After Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, the band started getting messages on social media from their fans now living daily life in a war zone."The first was a video that landed in our inbox from someone that was playing piano at night time as drone strikes were happening in the background. It was this unbelievably heartbreaking, surreal moment for both of us," Walker said.The main stage at the Atlas Festival in Kyiv. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)Some wrote about family members and friends being killed at war and others themselves fighting on the front line, telling the duo that their music was getting them through it."We were getting texts at all hours of the day and night from people that were under attack in bomb shelters," Grant told 7.30."When a country is going through a period of fear, they want to turn to safety and maybe they found that in our music somewhere."A war-time music festivalBreathe. at a press conference during the festival. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)Atlas Festival's program director, Vlad Yaremchuk, says no one quite understands how the band took off in Ukraine."I think there was some stroke of luck there where the algorithm would somehow find their way to Ukrainians," Mr Yaremchuk told 7.30."They were just listening to some random playlist, breathe. comes on. It feels like everyone immediately pays attention and are like, "What is this? " And then it very quickly becomes an obsession."When breathe. were invited to play Ukraine's biggest music festival, they quickly checked if one of their collaborators, Dylan Wright, the 2024 winner of Australian Idol, would go with them to Kyiv.Atlas Festival's program director Vlad Yaremchuk with the Australian musicians. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)He said yes."There was this moment where Andy and I both looked at each other and we said, 'We're doing this' and from that moment onwards, there was a deep solidarity and a deep conviction to making this happen," Walker told 7.30.Before Putin's war began the festival drew over half-a-million people over seven days. It first had to be cancelled, then in 2024 was relaunched as a three-day-event and in 2025 had nearly 100,000 people attending at the Blockbuster Mall, where the underground car park functions as a bomb shelter."What it means is that it enables us to evacuate the entire festival in mere minutes into the underground in the case there is an air raid alarm," Mr Yaremchuk said.Thousands of people at the main stage at the Atlas Festival. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)The festival has changed in other ways too. It's now a fundraising event for the war effort."You will really struggle to spend any money here without a big chunk of it going into the fundraiser, " Mr Yaremchuk said.The festival has stalls from military brigades showcasing information about the war.Some are looking for new recruits and run VR simulators with replica weapons to raise interest in supporting the war.A woman holds a replica anti-armour launcher at the festival. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)"For some people it becomes a place where they ultimately make that decision that they want to start preparing to enrol into the army and help the effort," Mr Yaremchuk said. NGOs are raising awareness of how life is changing in the country. One of them at the festival invites people to sit in wheelchairs to experience what life is like with a disability."That is a really important topic here," Mr Yaremchuk said.People are invited to try sitting in wheelchairs at the festival. (Suplied: Atlas Festival)"Our cities have to become a lot more accessible because of how [many] more people with disabilities there are."There are also stalls teaching resuscitation, tactical medicine, and how to tie a tourniquet."It's a difficult concept to grasp in most other countries because the military is seen as something that is not necessary," Mr Yaremchuk said.A man holding a replica weapon at the festival. (ABC News: Dave May)"But here the military is respected. These are the people that are spilling blood for us every single day so that we can keep on living in a free Ukraine."Breathe. are donating profits from the tour to the festival's fundraising initiatives.Those include a children's hospital in Kyiv that was bombed during the war, a music school through humanitarian initiative UAME Music Saves Ukraine and drone defence capability through foundation Come Back Alive.Beats and bombs Singer Dylan Wright performs with breathe. at the Atlas Festival in Kyiv. (Supplied: Altas Festival)After a night of intense bombing in Kyiv, the festival is given the green light and the crowd pours in for the final day."Despite how tired you are and how sleepless the night was, especially those who are waiting for breathe. to see them for the first time in their lives, nothing would have stopped them," Mr Yaremchuk said.Less than an hour before the Australian band hits the stage, air sirens wail.The act before breathe. only got two songs in as the whole festival was evacuated to the shelter.Breathe. perform at the Atlas Festival. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)But this time there's no barrage of ballistic missiles and the band take to the stage as the crowd exits the bomb shelter."We walked on stage to an empty shopping mall and by the end it was flooded," Grant said.Together the crowd sing along to breathe.'s lyrics, having shared one of Kyiv's worst nights since the war began.The enthusiastic crowd watching breathe. perform at the festival. (Supplied: Altas Festival)"Are you all good? Are you alright? I'm in your neighbourhood for your darkest times," echoes through the mall."Music in Ukraine right now reflects the wartime reality in so many ways. It helps you grieve. It cheers you up. It helps you deal with the separation," Mr Yaremchuk told 7.30 after the set.Before leaving Kyiv breathe. went to see where the bombs were falling during their stay.Less than an hour before breathe. took to the stage the whole crowd was evacuated to a bomb shelter. (Supplied: Atlas Festival)What they saw had a profound impact. Walker wiped away tears and his voice cracked as he described it to 7.30."We go back to safe old Australia and they're left here with this," he said."It's so f***ing unfair."Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV[7.30 contact us teaser]